The Next Generation
by Oriana-si'ni
Summary: The next generation must face the enemies of the last. The past will set upon the future, and those who are young must fight the wars of the old. *Rating bumped up.
1. Chapter 0ne

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only my ficticious characters.

* * *

_"A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down." -Arnold H. Glasgow_

* * *

Prologue:

Naruto stretched out in his bed contentedly, and put his arm around his wife of two months.

"Mmm, this is good." He said as she nodded sleepily and snuggled into his side, her long, dark hair splaying over his bicep as she looked up at him, and smiled.

"It is." She affirmed, "We should probably get up Naruto-kun."

He scoffed lightly, while giving her a teasing smile, "Yes, Hinata-sama."

She smiled back and smacked his chest playfully.

"Hinata-chan." He amended in the next breath.

She sat up a bit, and glanced over him to the clock on the bedside table. 7.45 a.m.

"Aren't we supposed to be meeting the others at 8?" she asked, sounding a bit shocked at the time.

"Yeah, why?" he asked and then looked at the clock himself.

"Oh shit!"

The energetic blond was out of bed and down the hall in a second, the sounds of rummaging for clothing and running water followed quickly. He emerged from the hall way once more with a tooth brush hanging out of his mouth, foaming toothpaste making him look rabid, and his black cargo pants half-on; as he was struggling to pull them up with one hand.

Hinata smiled happily and swung her feet over the side of their bed, he had grown up, but he was still Naruto; thank kami.

They made it to the small café with a minute to spare. Naruto allowed Hinata to straighten his jacket for him before they entered, and he stole a kiss in return. She blushed and walked through the door as he held it open, smiling wickedly.

They spied their breakfast companions in a moment and made their way to the rather large table. Rather several smaller tables and chairs mashed together to form a longer one to accommodate the sizeable group of Nin in the establishment.

Naruto pulled out a seat for Hinata and then one for himself.

The dark haired man next to him with the snarklicious attitude raised an eyebrow at him.

"Almost late, dobe."

"Keyword teme, almost. We got here with a whole minute to spare." Naruto rejoined, while carefully retrieving a cup of tea from Hinata who had seemingly magical powers, because he had no idea she'd already ordered for them.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded a slight smile on his usually stoic features.

"Who are we waiting on?" Hinata asked mildly.

"Yeah, who are we waiting on, Sasuke? You never told us why we're here." Naruto added as he took a sip of the hot beverage his thoughtful wife had bestowed upon him.

"Kakashi, Sakura and Father." A voice behind them answered, with an unreasonably elegant tone that also held a trace of wicked wit.

"Hey kid, didn't know you'd be here?" Naruto replied to his sister-in-law, looking a bit puzzled as she pulled up the seat next to Sasuke.

"Yes, Hanabi, "Hinata said putting down her tea, "why are you here?"

"You'll see Nee-san." Hanabi told her, while flagging down a waitress and ordering a black coffee.

A few minutes of idle chatter later, Hyuuga Hiashi entered the establishment, looking mildly offended at being asked to come to a civilian establishment that was clearly not upscale. He sat across from Sasuke and Hanabi, and waved the waitress when she asked him for his order. In fact, he looked a bit queasy at the thought….

Five minutes after that, and several greetings from Naruto, Sasuke and Hiashi's daughters, the Hatake's made their appearance. A fashionable twelve minutes late.

"Hey, sorry we're late!" Sakura smiled as she pulled up a seat across from Hinata, leaving Kakashi to sit across from Naruto.

"It's expected now, though I feel we all hoped when you two got married, you'd rub your punctuality off on Kakashi and not the other way around." Sasuke replied, eyeing the pair with a semi-amused expression.

"Aa…" Kakashi rubbed the back of his silver head a bit abashed, " We were under fifteen minutes late at least."

Naruto chuckled, " forget it," he said amicably. " so, Teme… everyone's here, so what's with the early breakfast get together thing? Eh?" he turned to his best friend.

Sasuke looked pointedly at Hiashi for a moment. Hiashi sighed and fished a bit of paper work out of his sleeve. He handed it over to Sasuke, who studied it with Hanabi for a moment. They smiled at each other.

"It's official, then? The clan must recognize it?" Hanabi asked quickly, turning her lavender eyes on her father's matching ones.

"Yes." Hiashi replied, looking a bit ill, but resigned.

Sasuke nodded to her in a strangely reassuring manner and Hanabi looked to the rest of the table.

" We eloped." She announced.

The table went silent, and Naruto, who was drinking tea snorted in surprise and it came out his nose.

"HUH?" Naruto gasped, spluttering a bit.

"Yes, I mean, what?" Hinata asked, looking sufficiently boggled, " I mean…. You're together?"

Hanabi blushed a little, " yeah, for over a year now."

Sasuke took the conversation over and placed his hand on top of hers, " we kept it very, quiet. We didn't want to cause a stir. "

"That and we didn't even like each other for the longest time…." Hanabi added, flicking her…husband in the arm.

He smirked in reply.

"When and where?" Sakura asked, getting over her initial shock relatively well.

"When and where did we elope?" Hanabi asked.

Sakura nodded, and took a bite of a pastry Kakashi had ordered and just been placed on the table by a confused looking waitress.

" The fire temple, on our last mission together, a week and three days ago." Hanabi replied, smiling softly.

"Oh, okay. Sounds nice." Sakura said, sounding approving, and earning a glare from the father.

"It was…" Hanabi said softly, smiling distantly.

"That's why we're here?" Naruto asked, regaining his calm.

"Aa, "Sasuke replied, "but I also need you to sign our marriage certificate, dobe."

"Oh…right." Naruto said after a moment of remembering who he was exactly, and why Teme needed him to sign.

"Hand it over, then." Naruto said, making a gesture for Sasuke to give him the paper.

Sasuke did, and Naruto fished a pen out of his inside-jacket pocket.

He signed the bottom line with his most official handwriting, after all, it was the teme's marriage certificate, and not to mention his sister-in-law _timestwo_ as well….

It read:

_I __**Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto, Rokudaime Hokage,**__ Hereby certify that __**UchihaSasuke**__ and __**Hyuuga Hanabi **__were united in marriage, in accordance with Fire Country law, in the presence of the high priest of the Fire Temple. _

He handed it back to Sasuke, careful not to drop it or obtain any tea stains.

Sasuke smiled, genuinely, and it shocked the shit out of Naruto for a second, and then the blond smiled back. At least the teme was happy. Hopefully, he would be less of an ass-hat now he was married to a woman that simply wouldn't tolerate any shit. Because that's what Hanabi was, a non-shit taker, and a blast of attitude to boot.

He looked over at Hinata and shrugged. She gave him a wry smile. He could tell she was thinking the same thing.

'What the hell would the children be like?'

Oh, hell.

* * *

Chapter One

_"In peace sons bury their fathers. In war fathers bury their sons."-Herodotus_

* * *

The Rokudaime Hokage had been in power for twenty years. At the age of forty-three, Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto was hailed as the greatest Hokage the village had ever seen.

He had re-established long time friendships with the kages of the other four of the five great nations; he had assisted the Uchiha and the Hyuuga in creating a co-operated military police department for village security.

He had revamped the curriculum at the academy for a better rounded young shinobi, and he had instituted the program Tsunade had fought for since her days before she was Godaime. He had at least one medic per chunin team and up, and all jonin had to have at least a rudimentary knowledge of field trauma medicine and jutsu.

He had reworked ANBU. Made it something that was even more efficient than anyone had thought possible by appointing Hatake Kakashi as the head of it, and taking an active role in the testing of new, potential operatives.

Konoha touted the top hospital in the shinobi world with Hatake Sakura at its front as the director.

But the paperwork all this reforming had created was ungodly.

Naruto sighed as his worst inanimate enemy sat in piles on his sturdy oaken desk.

A tap on the door came, and a man in his late thirties poked his head in.

"Boss, you got a minute?"

"Yeah, come on in Konohamaru." Naruto replied, yawning slightly.

The jonin known as Sarutobi Konohamaru entered the room, with a learned grace his grandfather, Sandaime, would be proud of.

Konohamaru pulled up a seat in front of the covered desk, and handed Naruto a series of scrolls from a pile in his arms.

Naruto grasped them and snapped them open with a practiced efficiency. He read them quickly, one after the other until he had finished them, and then he sat back and stared at Konohamaru.

"Are you certain of all this, Konohamaru? Because if it's true, we have no choice but to go to war." Naruto said finally, his tone heavy.

Konohamaru nodded, "I'm afraid so, all of our sources are saying the same things. And the last report you read the ANBU one?"

Naruto nodded in remembrance.

"They found the sand-nin's body, and evidence suggests sonic waves did the killing, ruptured organs, bruising visible, but no damage by a physical blow." Konohamaru elaborated, leaning back a bit in the chair, his hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

Naruto groaned and stood, then grabbed his coat with the orange flames on the hem, from the back of his swiveling chair. "You've done well, Konohamaru, I'm glad you're our spymaster. You've probably just saved hundreds of lives." He walked around the desk and put a hand on younger man's shoulder, sensing he was troubled by his own information.

"I've just given you Intel that we're going to war, and you're congratulating me?" Konohamaru asked, looking a bit belligerent.

Naruto crouched down next to him, "yes," he replied, "because now we can plan accordingly, and get the civilians out before enemy nin come in the slaughter them. That's why I'm thanking you Ko."

Konohamaru thought about this for a moment, and nodded. "Sorry boss." He said quietly.

"It's okay, I'm shocked too, We haven't had a war for twenty years after all." Naruto replied standing and ruffling his little brother's hair. "I've got to go and meet with Kakashi and Shikamaru; their departments will want to know about this."

"Right, I'll go with you." Konohamaru stood and followed Naruto out the door.

* * *

Namikaze Hinata was a strong woman. She had five children, she ran the house, she taught at the academy on occasion, and she had an apprentice. She made the balancing act look like she was slicing sponge cake with a katana. She kicked ass on top of all of that, but that didn't really need to be said….

She stood in the kitchen, baking a lemon poppy seed cake for her youngest, Minoru, who was graduating from the academy today.

A week ago, Naruto had told her privately that the village was going to war, so she couldn't help but sit and worry about her babies. All of which were now shinobi, and fine ones to boot.

Of all her children, she most worried for her two youngest. Minoru was only eleven, and Kokoro was only thirteen. She sighed sadly at the thought of them going out into battle, and seeing war. She did not want them to have their childhood innocence ripped from them at this tender age, but it looked very much like it was going to happen.

Naruto had promised that he would try to keep all genin away from the front lines, taking his own Yondaime father's advice to keep 'children' out of war.

This eased Hinata's mind marginally, but only just.

She had asked her husband why they could not reason their way out of this war. Naruto had looked distant for a moment, and replied, "We've tried to reason with them twenty years ago, and now he's even more insane and powerful. We can't take the chance that he'll make it out this time."

Sound village, Kabuto… or was it Orochimaru? When they had escaped from the final battle with Akatsuki all those years ago, they had gone into hiding. Now, it was becoming apparent that they had been very busy indeed. The sound village was up and running again, their shinobi encroaching on wind and fire borders. The Mizukage's apprentice had been assassinated, and there had been an attempt on the Kazekage's eldest son's life.

Twenty years, they had gone undetected. Twenty years, they had been underground, building up an army of lethal shinobi.

Hinata leaned against the sink, and looked out of the window into the garden for a moment. It was gloomy outside. An omen of what was to come, Hinata supposed. She stood like that, deep in thought for a while, only to be shaken out of her pensive state by the sound of her crank up timer going off. It was time to pull the cake out.

She pulled it out, and put it on a cooling rack, then turned the oven off.

A knock on her front door distracted her from her baking, and she went to answer it.

An ANBU stood there, in full battle dress with their mask down.

"Lady Namikaze, your presence is requested at the hospital immediately. Hokage -sama is already there."

Hinata nodded, a bit stunned, trying to comprehend what was going on. And then it hit her.

She slammed the door in the operative's face and threw on her shoes and vest over her long white shirt and long, dark pants. She opened the door again, barely recognizing that the ANBU was now gone and took off toward the hospital.

She raced up the sidewalk and steps, and through the doors, narrowly avoiding collision with an injured chunin with an arm in a cast. She ignored calls behind her as she raced past the reception desk. She focused on her husband's prominent chakra signature, and went for it.

She slid to a stop in front of a private room, and entered it with as much grace as she could muster.

Naruto was slumped over in a chair next to the crisp white bed. In the bed was an almost equally white, blond haired boy of seventeen. She heard a slight couch from the corner of the room, and she glanced over, his team mates sat there, staring blankly at the blond. The dark haired girl was visibly shaking, while the silver haired boy looked completely drained.

The boy in the bed was barely breathing.

Hinata put a slim hand on her husband's shoulder, he looked up, and his face was that of a stricken man.

"What did Sakura say?" Hinata asked, her voice trembling horribly.

Naruto hung his head, he was beyond words.

Hinata blanched and fell to her knees next to Naruto and the boy.

They stayed with him until his breathing stopped, twelve hours and thirty two minutes later.

Namikaze Kaito, age: seventeen, rank: chunin, Time of death: 5.34 a.m. on the twenty-first of June.

The first day of summer, the day his youngest sibling graduated the academy, the day Namikaze Naruto, Rokudaime Hokage, declared war on Otogakure.

* * *

Minoru had waited for his mom and dad to come and pick him up after he passed the graduation test.

He had waited for four hours, until his uncle Sasuke came and got him. Apparently mom and dad were at the hospital, because something had happened.

Minoru, being the bright boy he was, couldn't help but wonder what it could be. But when he thought of it, he got a hurting feeling in his stomach, and so he stopped thinking about it, and went with his uncle to see his cousins and eat dinner aunt 'Nabi made. He went to sleep that night on the futon in the Uchiha guest bedroom. And he had awful dreams.

The next morning, when he woke up, Minoru went out of the guest room and decided to get some breakfast. Uncle Sasuke and aunt Hanabi never minded that he helped himself before, so he thought it should be alright.

He got to just outside the kitchen door, when he heard talking within. It was quiet talking, and it made him wonder why the adults were whispering so much.

"Are you sure you're alright, Sora?" he heard aunt Hanabi ask.

"I need a shower." Was the reply, he heard a chair scraping the wood floor, and steps toward the door he was standing outside of. He stood there like a deer in the headlights when his sixteen year old cousin opened the door. Something was wrong with her eyes, they didn't look alive. She didn't seem to see him. She didn't seem to see anything, actually. She walked down the hall like a blind lady Minoru had seen once.

He avoided being stepped on, and decided to go into the kitchen. There was no talking now, but when he went in, he saw his aunt and uncle slouched on the table. The clock above the sink read 6.30 a.m.

The two adults looked up from the table at him, when they heard him enter. Uncle Sasuke cringed, and Aunt Hanabi started to cry.

Minoru was shocked. He had never made anyone cry by just looking at them before…. It was odd.

"Auntie, are you alright?" he asked in his young boy way.

She just continued to cry, and uncle Sasuke grasped her hands in his.

"I'm going to take him home now, okay Hanabi? You can handle Sora?" he asked, seriously concerned, and sounding extremely strained.

Hanabi nodded weakly, pulling one hand from in between his, and wiping her face.

Sasuke shepherded the boy out of the kitchen and helped him find his zori, and carry his backpack from school.

They left the house and walked slowly back to the Hokage's estate. Uncle Sasuke held Minoru's hand protectively. The boy was his youngest nephew, and he knew the boy knew something was wrong.

It was best to let his parents explain it. It wasn't his place, no matter how much he'd like to make the little genin's confusion go away.

They made it to the estate in five minutes, and Sasuke walked the boy up to the front door. He knocked.

They waited for a few minutes, and a girl of eighteen opened the door. She had long blonde hair, and sharp blue eyes, that were full of intelligence and deep sadness.

She looked down, and saw her littlest sibling, and smiled at him.

"Mina!" Minoru exclaimed, hugging his oldest sibling around the middle.

"Hey squirt." She said ruffling his hair lightly, her tone was grieving but tried to sound happier for her little brother, "thanks for taking care of him uncle Sasuke, I only just got home. I was in Suna when I got the news."

Sasuke looked surprised; it was a three day journey. "In Suna?" he asked concern in his tone.

Namikaze Minaka nodded sullenly, "I ran nonstop."

Sasuke nodded. "I should go. I'll talk to your parents later, at a better time."

Mina nodded in affirmative, a tear escaping one eye. She wiped it quickly. "Good idea."

They said good bye and Minoru was helped into the house by his sister, who took his backpack and placed it on a shelf in the tiled entryway.

"shoes." She reminded him gently.

"Right." Minoru nodded, pulling his zori off and putting them in his usual spot, next to his other family member's shoes. There were Dad's, mom's, Mina's, Kenji's would be next, but he was on a mission, Kaito's were also missing, Kokoro's were next, and then his own.

He remembered asking once why his shoes were at the end. Kaito had explained to him that it was called chronological order. Oldest to youngest. His brother always had a good way of explaining things to him.

Mina gently tugged his sleeve, in a semi urgent askance for him to move.

Minoru looked up at her, and took the hand she was offering to him. She went off into the house, towing him behind her.

They wound down the main hallway for a few seconds, until they reached the section that branched two ways. One way was to the family room, where there were a few couches and books, scrolls and shougi games. The other way, to the left, was the rather large kitchen that had a back door to the gardens and training ground outside.

They went left.

The kitchen table was a monolithic thing. Cherry wood and sturdy, with an elegant sort of grace that spanned an entire twelve feet when the leaf was out; the chairs were actually long benches that sat about three to each. They had a grand total of seven benches, they only ever used three on the daily basis, but when they had company for the holidays, they used them all. The others were spread all over the house, being utilized as other surfaces.

At one lonely end of this great family table, were two people.

Minoru saw his parents, but was prevented from running to them, because Mina tightened her grip on his smaller hand just a little. He looked up at her, and she shook her head, a silent 'don't'.

They walked up to their parents slowly, and Mina released the genin's hand, ushering him silently to a seat next to their father.

"I'm going to check the roster." Mina announced at bit shakily. She needed to see if her other two siblings were in town yet, the message to come home had been sent out in the early evening yesterday, and if the younger ones were panicked about why they had been summoned, Mina would feel bad if she wasn't there to meet them when they came home.

Her Kaa-san looked up, her eyes red from crying and nodded her approval. Mina didn't know what else to say, so she simply left the room as quietly as she could manage.

Minoru shifted next to his normally happy Tou-san uncomfortably in the stifling silence. The clock ticking over the door behind him was the only noise except the sound of a slight wind coming under the door from the outside.

Naruto pulled his face out of his hands, and looked down at his youngest. The boy stared up at him, looking a bit scared.

Naruto pulled him into a huge hug very suddenly. Minoru hugged back, thoroughly confused.

"What's wrong, daddy?" he asked, his voice muffled against Naruto's olive colored jonin vest.

Naruto took a shuddering breath, and rested his chin on top of his littlest one's head. He pulled back a moment later, and looked down at the boy, with a serious expression.

"Minoru," he started, trying to find the words, "Kaito…" Naruto stopped, feeling tears welling up again. He composed himself after a few moments.

"Do you remember what happened to Baa-chan?" Naruto asked the little boy.

Minoru nodded sullenly, "she went to sleep and never woke up. You said she went to heaven."

Naruto nodded, tears trekking down his face in an unstoppable flood, "Kaito went to heaven this morning." He explained as gently as he could.

Minoru went very white, and very quiet. Kaito had been the brother he was closest in age to, and they had been very close. The idea that his Nii-san was gone was almost unfathomable. He couldn't grasp it.

"He's dead?" Minoru asked in a very quiet voice. Almost inaudible.

"Yes baby, "Hinata softly replied, her own tears rendering her nearly speechless. She sobbed quietly, trying to catch the breath that suddenly left her. The emotional pain was like a kick to the gut. The worst pain she had ever endured.

It suddenly hit Minoru, the reality of the situation, and he cried.

* * *

Mina left the house, and wiped her tears before she got to the main street. It wouldn't do to have people asking her why she was crying. She'd just break down worse.

She went straight to the Hokage tower, and found the chunin in charge of the mission roster board.

"Have Namikaze Kenji and Kokoro returned yet? The Hokage sent summons for them to come home immediately." She told the kid, sounding professional as she did.

The kid jumped when he saw her. Surprised that such a high ranked jonin would even be in here.

"Uh, I can check. If they're here, I'll find them. Just gimme a sec." he said, looking a bit flustered and disappearing into a back room.

Mina pushed her blonde bangs out of her ocean eyes, a bit exasperated at the chunin's lack of immediate knowledge.

She ran her hands through her long, wild and slightly spiky hair, and deftly tied it all into a ponytail with an elastic around her wrist.

A minute later, the chunin had returned. He was panting as if he'd been running, which he very well could have been, because Mina knew that there was another stairway behind the wall the desk was in front of.

"Namikaze Kokoro is in grass, and held up; Namikaze Kenji is thirty minutes away on the west road." He told her as professionally as he could muster.

'Poor kid.' Mina thought, feeling a little bad for intimidating the chunin.

"Thanks." She told him, nodding her departure and leaving through the door she had entered.

When she got to the main gate, she stopped a moment. Thinking about her course of action. If Kenji was coming home in less than half an hour now, she could simply loop around and meet him, and then continue out to grass to grab Kokoro. It was probably best she tell Kenji what had happened before he found out from some village sentry about Kaito….

So that was it, her mind was made up. Inform Kenji, find Kokoro.

Mina was about to take a step out of the village, when someone coughed behind her. She turned around, with an eyebrow raised.

A young man, about her age, and a familiar one at that; he was one of her team mates after all.

"Yes?" she asked, sounding a bit impatient.

"Yo." He greeted, looking ridiculously relaxed, but with a certain uncharacteristic tenseness about his shoulders. It wasn't quite his usual slouch.

"I wanted to know why you're leaving the village without sanction from your dad." He said slowly, as if he was carefully choosing his words.

Mina sighed, "I'm not going to hunt down his killers without permission on my own just yet, if that's what you're asking, Sakumo."

Hatake Sakumo seemed to think this over for a moment, and ran a hand through his unruly silver hair. He looked away for a moment, and then met her gaze. He locked his viridian eyes with her blue ones.

"I'm going to find Kenji and Kokoro." She said, shifting uncomfortably under her friend's scrutiny. He always had a way of making her tell him what he wanted to know. Damn him.

"And you thought, that you'd do this by yourself?" he asked, looking at her like she was nuts. Completely unhinged.

"Well," Mina shifted, and put a hand on her hip. "Yeah." She finished lamely.

"Huh." Sakumo replied, looking displeased, his mouth turning downward into a frown of semi-irritation, and exasperation.

"I'm going with you." He announced, "You don't have any supplies and it'll take you twice as long to find them without my tracking skills." He evaluated her for a moment more. "Plus you have no supplies, I brought my pack."

She scowled at him, her blue eyes flashing a bit dangerously at his condescension. "fine." She ground out irritably. "Let's go."

He smiled a pained smile and gave her a pat on the shoulder. Ah, friendship.

* * *

They met Kenji on the road where Mina had predicted. She talked to him privately for a while, away from his team mates.

When they returned, the seventeen year old chunin looked stricken by the news,his twin was gone, he resolved to get back to Konoha even quicker. He couldn't imagine how beside themselves their parents would be if he was this messed up himself.

He hugged his older sister and the groups parted.

* * *

Mina and Sakumo tracked Kokoro down, and when they found her, they were in full out ass kicking mode.

She was being hunted by several sound Nin that had crossed several borders illegally, and she was nearly out of chakra to boot. When they found her, they barely had the chance to get two sentences out, "where's your team? What the hell's going on?" before three Oto-nin burst out of the brush hurling jutsu.

Mina and Sakumo wheeled on them in surprise, they were good at hiding their chakra, and their jutsu was the kind you wanted to stay the Frick away from.

"Why the hell are they here?" Sakumo shouted, dodging a sonic technique.

Mina grabbed her sister and dodged another attack, while Sakumo pulled a tanto blade out and charged it with lightning chakra, bowling headfirst into the fight. Mina, using ungodly speed dispatched two of them within the next few seconds.

Sakumo followed closely with the third, stabbing him through the chest while electrocuting the nin.

"yuck." Sakumo muttered eloquently as he wiped his blade on the dead nin's sleeve, then sheathed it in its proper place on his back.

Mina turned to her little sister.

The short but slim little red head was looking at them both like they had sprouted extra heads.

"Answer the questions, shortie." Sakumo said softly from next to Mina as he moved up to stand equal with her.

"Uh," Kokoro started intelligently, "well, my team mates and I split up because sensei was…" she gulped, "he was cut down, and the nin went after us. Sano was hurt, his leg was messed up and Shikari was trying to help him keep up, but the nin were gaining on us, so I distracted the nin and lead them away from my team mates. They should be, like an hour in that direction… I think." Kokoro explained, motioning in the direction she had come from.

Mina raised an eyebrow at this, "let's go get them then."

Sakumo agreed, summoning his family nin dogs to track the kids down, whereas they had only needed Sakumo's insane sense of smell to find Kokoro.

"Looking for an Uchiha and a Nara, follow Kokoro's scent trail back to them, go." He told them, and the dogs were off in a howling pack, roughly in the direction of Kokoro's mad dash through the brush.

* * *

They spent the next two hours finding the boys, and when they did, they were thirty feet from the eastern road to Konoha.

Miles from where they had started.

They had their backs to the searching Kokoro, Sakumo and Mina, but when they heard the barking and bellow of the nin dogs behind them, they turned and saw them.

The relief was plain on their features.

"Hey there!" Kokoro shouted, rushing to them and crushing them in hugs.

"We thought something horrible had happened to you Crazy." Sano told her, sounding happy to see her.

"yeah, we were worried." Shika added, trying to hold Sano up with an arm, as the young Uchiha's leg looked pretty nasty.

"I'm fine, you jerks need to have a little more faith in my ass-kickery." She joked, eyeing the leg with concern.

"Sano, "Sakumo said, making the young Uchiha look at him, "I'm gonna make you ride piggy back. Climb on."

A minute later the Uchiha was on the Hatake's back, and not leaning on the Nara, 'thank goodness',

Shika thought, his shoulder had really been starting to hurt from supporting that extra weight.

The group made it to the road, and Mina recognized that there was only about another half an hour before they reached the primary gate of the village.

"Did you get the summons yesterday, Kokoro?" she asked softly.

Kokoro nodded her head, looking a bit deflated, "Sensei updated the tower with a message hawk about two minutes after we got it, and then he went to fight all those Oto- Nin…."

"How many were there originally?" Mina asked the red head.

Kokoro looked thoughtful, "like, ten… I'm not sure how many sensei got before they killed him, but there were four after me, I got one of them, but then I had to run like I told you."

Mina nodded in understanding, "okay."

"Nee-san, "Kokoro started, looking uncertain and not understanding her older sister's sullen attitude when the blonde was usually very upbeat.

"I'll tell you what's going on when we get back to the village, before we get home." Mina told her almost inaudibly.

Kokoro nodded, but she had a horrible sinking feeling in her stomach now.

* * *

When they got back to the village, Sakumo took the boys to the hospital to be looked over by his mother. The girls bid their farewells, and Mina thanked her team mate and one of her best friends for coming with her. Sakumo shrugged it off, "you'd do it for me too." He replied simply, with a lopsided smile.

The girls walked down the road to their home in silence, at point where the road branched off into the pathway to the house, Mina stopped.

She told Kokoro about Kaito.

The color drained from the girl's face, but she nodded, comprehending the statements Mina had made. Kokoro was never one to cry immediately, she would probably cry herself to sleep later, but while she was in front of people, she would remain like a rock. It was her nature.

"How?" Kokoro asked, in a horribly downhearted tone.

"He took several hits for his team mates." Mina explained, equally miserable.

Kokoro did not know what else to ask. Or what else to say. She took her big sister's hand and walked up the tree lined path to the house. They needed to see their family.

* * *

Three days later, Kaito's funeral was held. It was a simple but heartfelt affair with only close friends and family attending. Kaito wouldn't have wanted to have the whole village there anyway.

Kokoro held Minoru's hand while the funeral was taking place. Kenji stood next to them, while Mina stood behind them, gently protecting them from the sympathetic stares of the other attendees. The last thing the two genins and the chunin needed was another thirty people offering their condolences. They'd put up with enough of the formality.

* * *

That night, they were all home for dinner. Hinata had cooked, though her heart wasn't really in it after the previous few days' events. They had a simple meal of miso soup and leftover onigiri that aunt Hanabi had made and brought over for them yesterday.

They sat at the table, in their usual spots, all of them unable to tear their eyes from the one spot that wasn't occupied. It would never be occupied by their brother again, and it was a thought they all struggled with.

Kokoro pushed her onigiri around on her plate, and heard her father sigh.

There was suddenly a tap on their front door, if it hadn't been like a tomb in the kitchen they would not have heard it at all. But there it was.

Naruto stood and left the room to answer the door. He returned a minute later with two people. Uchiha Sora and Hatake Takeshi. Kaito's best friends, his team mates. The people he had died for.

They paused in the doorway to the kitchen for a few moments, unsure of if they were even welcome here anymore.

Mina was the one to speak, "you didn't cause it." She said clearly.

The pair stared at her, Mina continued"he chose to do what he did, and I'm proud that my brother defended those he cares for. I'm proud he stuck to his principles. I'll always look up to him as an example as the kind of shinobi I should become."

"You don't hate us?" Sora asked, morose and uncertain.

"No." Mina replied, "I'm sad he's dead, he's my brother, I love him, but I'm proud and respectful of his decision to do what he did for you both. All I want from you two, is for you to really cherish what he did, and remember him."

"I think I can do that." Takeshi choked out, emotional.

Minoru got up from his seat and hugged the now crying Uchiha and Hatake.

The eleven year old and his sweet nature just made them cry harder.

Mina stood and ushered them all to the table and handed them cloth napkins from a drawer, she herself was struggling with her overwhelming emotions, but she held strong.

No one wanted to eat anymore. Dirty dishes were piled in the sink, and the entire gathering moved to the family room, where they piled next to each other on the cordovan colored, leather couches and remembered their brother and best friend.

Naruto held Hinata as she sobbed in their bed that night. They lay awake for hours, knowing the truth. Knowing that it was true, yes, Kaito had died protecting his team mates, but the attacks he absorbed for them were sound based.

Naruto and Hinata both knew that they had to take action. The village must arm itself, and the people must be prepared. No matter how much pain they felt, they needed to protect the village.

Their son's death cemented everything that Naruto had feared for the past week and a half, since that day Konohamaru was first in his office with those reports. Since the investigation that Naruto himself had started, to look into what had killed his son.

Kaito was the first casualty.

* * *

A month passed.

Mina did not go back to field duty immediately.

Instead, she stayed back and assisted the new genin in preparing themselves for open field battle. Something they had never been trained in.

She spent weeks with them, until her father pulled her into his office one morning.

"I need to send your team out." He said, handing her a scroll. It was an A-rank.

She quirked an eyebrow at that.

"Which team?" she asked, putting the scroll in a vest pocket.

She had two teams; one was her jonin team, which consisted of Yamanaka Sayuri, and Shiranui Shizan. Her other team, was one that was originally the team she had been on as a genin, but was now her ANBU squad.

"ANBU." Naruto replied steadily, searching his daughter's face for any traces of apprehension. When he saw none, he nodded in approval. She was fit to go.

"is that all?" she asked, every inch the professional ANBU Captain.

Naruto nodded, "As a Hokage, I say go out there and succeed because it's good for the village. As a father, I'm telling you to go out there and be careful. Good luck sweetie."

She smiled a wry smile. "I will, Dad."

Then she was gone in a poof of smoke.

She was an ANBU captain for a reason, and she would be fine.

Naruto told himself that she would be back within the month.

* * *

End Chapter One.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: Sorry about the lack of updates on both of my stories, I'm a pre-law and economics double major and it eats up a lot of my time...

I really hope you all enjoy this chapter, I've been working on it steadily since the first post. You all should expect another in about two and a half weeks. Also, thanks to all of you who put me on alerts and favs and reviewed! I really appreciate it!

On with the story!

* * *

Chapter Two

"Friendship is unncessesary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value;

rather it is one of those things that give value to survival." -C.S. Lewis

* * *

Mina used her shunshin no jutsu to leave her father's office, and ended it in her bedroom in her parent's house.

It was a nice room, but a slightly out dated one. It was very much the same as when the ANBU captain was a thirteen year old chuunin, but somehow she did not quite have the heart to re-do it.

Mina shrugged these thoughts off and grabbed her sealing scrolls with her supplies and laid them out on her bed; weapons first, survival gear next. She then pulled her katana down from the top shelf of her closet and laid it out onto her flowery duvet next to her scrolls.

Next, Mina stripped out of her standard jonin garb, and got into her ANBU gear. Long, dark, cargo pants that tucked into her black-ops issue matte-black boots. Black tank top that made the tattoo on her arm stand out, silver chest armor, hand guards, wrist guards, knee plates, shin guards.

Everything was silver. She wrapped the dark red bandages of a captain around her right thigh, and put her holster in place. She put her scrolls into one of the deep, cargo pockets of her pants. She put her black leather belt around her waist to hold up her baggy pants, and provide her with her med kit.

She strapped her blade onto her back.

Finally, she placed her mask on her face, that of an un-named hunter-nin.

She was out of her house in less than three minutes. She flew by third storey windows, over rooftops and stopped at team mate number one's house. Mina knocked on his window, which was situated on the second floor.

He was sitting at his desk, and looked up. Upon seeing her, he went to the window and opened it.

"Gate, ten minutes." Mina said.

Sakumo nodded. "See you then."

She was gone, leaving wind in her wake.

Mina repeated this process, stopping at team mate number two's house. Her room was on the first floor in the back of the house.

She tapped on the window.

The window opened and a petite, long black haired, young woman stared up at her with dark violet eyes. She was sitting at her desk like Sakumo had been, but hers was pushed up against her window.

"Mina." The girl greeted, smirking a little as her friend balanced on her window sill.

"If I were any other ANBU captain, I'd have you reported for revealing S -class secrets, Mikoto."

Uchiha Mikoto shrugged, uncaring. It was an empty threat, and they both knew it.

"Gate, five minutes." Mina said, as protocol demanded.

Mikoto flicked her off.

Mina smiled as she left.

* * *

ANBU squad _hunter-three_ was at the designated meet spot at the designated time, geared up and ready to go.

Sakumo showed first, his gravity defying silver hair giving him away immediately despite the plain porcelain mask. He came to stand directly next to Mina as they waited for Mikoto to show.

He pulled a book of mind /number games out of nowhere, and a pen from behind his ear. A penchant he had, but at least it was as bad as uncle Kakashi's….

Mikoto showed a minute later, her hair in a plaited braid that ran down her back. She adjusted her katana on her back marginally and gave the ready signal in the hand-signing language all ANBU were taught to know.

Mina signed an affirmative, and Sakumo put his book away, his pen back behind one ear.

They walked over to the gate, and Mina took note that it was hot today, as should be expected from a Fire Country August. There was barely a breeze, and it was humid.

It would make travelling a bit more difficult, but it shouldn't present any real problems like rain would have.

"Move out." She said quietly, taking off into the trees to the right side of the road, followed closely by the others.

They stopped half an hour later so Mina could explain the mission to them. She had already read and burned the scroll in the village.

Mina crouched down, and Mikoto and Sakumo popped a squat as well, forming a tight triangle. Mina activated her byakugan, as a precautionary measure against eavesdroppers and would be ambushers.

"Alright, so the objective is to hunt down a sound Nin by the name of Yuudai, he assassinated the Mizukage's apprentice, made an attempt to kill the Kazekage's son, and he killed Hokage-sama's third son, from what our sources can tell, Yuudai is directly answering to the leader of Oto. He is said to be going after someone close to the Raikage next. Lord Hokage wants him for interrogation, as does Lord Kazekage."

Sakumo pushed his mask up onto the side of his head, and the other two did as well. He stared into Mina's face for a moment, looking at her seriously.

"Can you handle this just now?" he asked, straight to the point.

Mina nodded solemnly. "I can, I will. For Kaito, I must. I'll worry about my mental state later."

Sakumo did not speak, just continued to stare at her, scrutinizing her, assessing her. He sighed after a moment. "I'll watch your back extra closely this time, then."

Mikoto frowned, "I don't want you putting this mission ahead of your mental state."

Mina turned to face her, "I'll be fine, if it's too much, I'll ask one of you to make the hit, okay? Miki, Sakumo, please don't give me this right now. I'll let you take over if I can't handle it. Let's just go. We're meeting up with Suna black ops two days from now just outside of Kumo."

Mikoto and Sakumo nodded, they all fixed their masks into place, and they were gone.

* * *

It took a day and a half of heavy travelling to make it to the outskirts of Kumo in time to meet the Suna-black-ops.

When they finally did reach the pre-set meeting point, the Suna-nin were already there. The two of them were sitting under a rather large boulder, and among some small, scrubby bushes.

"Good afternoon." One of them greeted, standing up from the ground in front of Mina. He had quite distinctive red hair, his pierced ears were just visible, he was tall, and his fingers were very tan.

"And yourself." Mina replied. She smiled to herself; there was no real way for him to disguise himself.

"So, Blondie, you got a plan?" Red asked amicably.

"I might, but you'll have to wait and see, Red." She snarked back, moving around him, to stand next to the other Suna-nin. This one had brown hair that was tied back into a messy bun, and she had a distinctive tattoo in the shape of a mask on the nape of her neck.

The brunette haired girl nodded at Mina good naturedly. "Sup?" she asked.

Mina replied with two fingered salute of acknowledgement, pulling a scroll out of a deep, cargo pocket in the meantime.

She laid it out in front of her on a hip height rock that was rather flat. She unsealed it, and it revealed a very detailed map. At the bottom right hand corner, was the map maker's mark, a small toad.

She gathered everyone around it, and began to point out strike points.

"Alright," Mina began, "there is only one viable entry point for Yuudai if he is to "complete" his mission of killing someone close to the Raikage. Right here." She pointed to a tiny slash on the map that was outlined in blue.

"This is a sewage line that only two chunin patrol, and in shifts at that… Yuudai will find it easier to slip into the village this way; unfortunately, it is especially convenient for him because of its proximity to the Raikage's nephew's residence. Konoha intelligence indicates that the nephew is most likely the target."

Red stopped gazing at the map at looked up at her, his amber eyes flashing through the holes in his mask. "You're not planning on using the kid as bait, are you?" he asked, a hint of waspishness in his voice.

"No," Mina replied stoically, "we're going to grab Yuudai on his way in. The Raikage has been informed of our presence and has agreed to let us take the killer down. Raikage-sama has placed a tight guard on his nephew's home to ensure his safety."

Red paused a moment, staring at her, hard. Mina avoided the urge to shift uncomfortably under his scrutiny.

"Alright." He agreed after a moment, turning away and back to his team.

"When do we leave?" The brunette Suna-nin spoke up.

"Now." Mina replied.

The area was clear in half a minute, with no trace left behind of a shinobi presence.

Red had set up a series of traps in the sewers with Sakumo's help, making them impassable.

When they met back up with the group, the combined squads set up on the side of a craggy cliff-face, in a small outcropping that was barely four feet wide, and ten feet across, with a low overhanging ceiling of four feet. The five of them squished on to it, not showing their discomfort for the chosen watch-point.

Mina and Miki sat up front, cross-legged and on the edge, both utilizing their doujutsu to watch the drainage opening seventy feet down and half a mile away horizontally.

Sakumo, Red and the brunette sat back, not making any noise. Sakumo had pulled out his puzzle book, and was working his way through an obnoxiously hard word-game. Red and the brunette woman were playing a silent game of cards, Red was losing.

Mina smirked at that, he was usually a good card-player, but today he was getting a taste of his own medicine.

They all sat like this for an hour and forty-three minutes, until Miki and Mina both detected movement to the right of the large drainage pipe. About thirty yards out was a large man going an insane speed. A speed meant for stealth, and also of intent purpose.

"Sighted." Miki and Mina announced at the same time, and Mina would have found it amusing if not for the seriousness of the situation.

The group was up in a second and swiftly down the side of the cliff in not even the blink of an eye. Yuudai spotted them coming and knew that his mission was ruined; he turned fleetly and darted away from the black-ops pursuing him. Yuudai made it about one hundred yards before they caught up with him.

Mikoto and Mina were in the front with Red, Sakumo and the brunette behind them.

Yuudai in his panic of being found out in the open, made a wild move. Unsheathing his katana from his back and performing a hand sign that made the air around him distort with waves, he charged Mina.

In an instant, there was a shrieking sound in the air and then a snap. Yuudai collapsed to the ground, choking horrifically as he clawed at the johyo string around his neck. Red held the other end.

Sakumo walked around the red-head and lifted a glowing green palm to Yuudai, knocking him medically unconscious.

Mina frowned slightly under her mask, and pulled a scroll from her cargo pockets. She walked over to the slumped body a few feet from her and waited for Red to finish tying him up. When Yuudai was chakra-bound and decidedly helpless, Mina sealed him in her holding scroll, and shoved it back into her pocket.

"First order of business?" Red asked, turning to face Mina as though nothing had just happened.

"We're to go to Suna and allow Yuudai to be questioned for three days before you and your team mate accompany us and the prisoner to Konoha, where we will conduct an interrogation of our own." She replied, pushing these recent events to the back of her thoughts, it would not do to be distracted on a mission.

Red nodded, "Let's go."

The combined black-ops were gone.

* * *

After two days of travelling they made it to Sunagakure.

Mina handed over the holding scroll containing Yuudai to Red and the brunette woman, and was escorted by a chunin to her team's usual accommodations in the Kazekage's home.

When the team was left alone in the foyer of the large home, they finally removed their masks.

A blonde woman came bursting through a side door, looking a little frazzled and who could blame her? She was the Kazekage's ambassador to the Leaf, and stress came with the territory.

"Just got word of you all being in the village, so I'm gonna get someone to clean your usual rooms, okay?" The older blonde asked.

"That'd be great, Temari-san." Mina replied with a smile.

"Good. You kids know where the kitchen is in this place, so go and help yourselves." Nara Temari told them, leaving them as fast as she'd come upon them.

The three ANBU left the foyer and made their way through a door on the right and down a hallway to the kitchen. They rummaged through the refrigerator and found some left over rice balls and cold tea, and proceeded to demolish half the plate and three quarters of the jug of tea.

When they were nearly through the food, two people came trudging through the back door of the kitchen.

"Ugh, you're all a bunch of lucky bastards, you didn't have to go and report." The brunette said, slumping into a free chair by Mikoto and snatching a rice ball off the plate, pushing her mask up and off of her face. Sabaku no Chouko wiped her eyes of the sweat that had built up on her face, smearing her copious amounts of purple eyeliner as she did.

Red slumped in the free seat next to Mina. He pulled his mask off and set it on the table, then stole Mina's glass of tea, chugging it and then refilling it before setting it back down.

"Nice, Karasu." Mina told him, smirking.

"I aim to please, Blondie." He replied, snatching the last of the rice balls off the plate in the center, making Chouko pout with indignation.

He finished it in two bites. "That's way harsh cuz'," Chouko retorted to the lack of rice balls.

"Sorry, Cho." Karasu replied, his amber eyes flashing with amusement. The tall red-head, son of the Kazekage, stood with ease and walked over to the pantry, rummaging through it for a few moments before he found what he was looking for. He emerged with a triumphant look on his face and a jar of peanut butter.

He loped over to the drawer that contained cutlery and extracted a spoon.

He returned to the table, taking up his spot once more. With a flourish he opened the jar, and handed the lid to Mina, who arched an eyebrow in response. Karasu then unceremoniously stuck the spoon into the jar and began to eat the peanut butter straight up.

Chouko made mock gagging noises, as she left the table to poke around the kitchen for more edibles.

"That's kind of gross, you know?" Mina told the slightly older Nin.

Karasu shrugged, "As long as Kaa-san doesn't catch me, it's all good."

The group lapsed into silence, and Mina looked over to her team mates, they were absorbed in one of Sakumo's puzzles, solving it together, Miki would point out an answer and Sakumo would circle it, or shake his head and point to something else with his pen.

Mina sighed; she was tired and ready for a shower. Thankfully, just as she thought this, Temari came into the kitchen.

"Bedrooms are ready, you know where they are." She looked over at her niece who was rummaging through the fridge and her nephew who was eating peanut butter straight from the jar, and rolled her eyes.

"Good to see you too, aunt Temari," Chouko called from the fridge, and returning from its chilly depths with a yogurt.

"You too, kid. Oh, and Karasu?" Temari replied, her head swiveling in his direction.

The red head in question looked up from his peanut butter, an almost nonexistent eyebrow arched in question.

"Your mom's in the foyer, you might want to hide that." Temari told him, pointing at the offending jar.

Karasu's eyes widened just a smidge, and he stood to make his escape from the kitchen.

"I smell peanut butter, Karasu! If you're eating it out of the jar again, I'll have your ass!"

Karasu stood, ruffled Mina's hair, and then he escaped through the back door; with his jar of peanut butter.

When Sabaku no Matsuri came in, looking every inch the scary-mother-type, Mina snickered internally, but she couldn't really blame Red for running.

* * *

The sun was just beginning to set when Mina left the kitchen ten minutes later, after Matsuri had told them she'd make pork dumplings for dinner in an hour, and to come back down then.

Temari had turned down the invitation when it was extended to her; apparently her lazy ass husband was taking her out tonight.

The blonde Namikaze had ducked out then, figuring she had enough time to grab a shower and change before then, so she went through a familiar bunch of twists and turns to her usual guest bedroom.

She went in and locked the door behind her, and stripped down to just her pants and tank top, leaving her armor in a pile at the foot of the bed with her katana on the top of the dresser.

She went into the small but well equipped adjoining bathroom that was painted a lovely sage color, and went to the shower. She turned the water on, and waited for the freezing cold, filtered groundwater that Suna used -because of the lack of lakes and rivers in the desert- to heat up.

She stripped down completely and sat on the side of the tub, a hand in the spray beyond, testing the temperature.

After five minutes, the water was warm enough to bathe in, and she stepped under the artificial downpour. She just stood there for a few minutes, enjoying the feeling of the warm water.

Barely finding the motivation to move from her spot under the warm spray, she moved and located the shampoo on a ledge, and poured copious amounts of it into her one girlish vanity.

She washed it twice, to fully rid it of sand and dirt and utter failure. Then she conditioned, and received a mental image of her male subordinates shocked faces at the fact that their captain was so damned feminine. She chuckled softly at that.

Mina was perfectly fine with being a female, especially when she could prove her worth as a shinobi in about two seconds flat. Everyone knew she could kick some serious ass.

This brought on a troubling thought, one she had suppressed until now because of her unwillingness to look at it while she was on duty.

Why had Karasu stepped in when Yuudai had charged? Did he do it out of instinct for a comrade, or because he felt she needed saving…?

If saving her was the case, she would need to have a conversation with him about her capability as a kunoichi. She frowned for a moment, rinsing out the last of the conditioner, and picking up a bar of soap.

Surely Karasu knew her better than to think she had _needed_ his help?

Mina rolled her shoulders, to work out the stress building up there, and decided not to focus on the circumstances around Yuudai's capture. It was working her up.

She finished up her lengthy shower, and stepped out of the expensively tiled-tub, grabbing a fluffy white towel from the rack above the toilet as she did.

She left the bathroom, still toweling herself off, and pulled her only other scroll out of her dirty pants pocket. Mina unsealed it rapidly and snatched her backup ANBU clothes out and sealed her dirty ones away.

There was a sudden rap on the door, and Mina pulled her towel about herself firmly, tucking it under an armpit before she unlocked and answered the knock.

Karasu was standing outside the door, with an armful of fabric. He was also freshly showered and clothed, and he looked ridiculously at ease with himself as he took up the bulk of the doorway.

"My mother sent these up for you" he told her handing the blonde the armful of clothes.

"Tell her thank you for me?" Mina replied, gratefully accepting them, and eager to wear something other than shinobi clothes.

"Sure thing. Dinner's in twenty minutes by the way." Karasu responded, smiling and preparing to leave.

"Alright, um…" she trailed off, causing him to look at her.

One of her hands unconsciously made its way to the back of her damp neck and scratched a non-existent itch, a tick of hers that Karasu had also seen her famous father execute.

"Something up?" he asked, concerned.

"No, it's nothing." She replied giving him a half hearted smile that did not reach her cerulean eyes, waving it off. "I'll see you at dinner."

"Okay." Karasu nodded, looking a bit puzzled. He turned away and walked down the hall, he heard her door close with a barely audible click.

Well, whatever it was she wanted to say, she'd tell him in her own good time, the red head figured.

She always did.

* * *

Mina went back into her borrowed room and let out a sigh of exasperation. She had been about to bring up her thoughts about the capture to Karasu, but his puzzled face had made her realize what an idiot she was being about the whole matter.

Karasu knew her, he had most likely been acting out of instinct, and it was pointless to wonder about anything otherwise. If he stepped in again on a different occasion, she would say something, but right now, speculation on such a trivial matter was just stupid.

With that last thought, Mina got dressed in the clothes Matsuri-san had lent her. They consisted mainly of a pair of dark red harem pants and a fitted long sleeve black shirt, with a square neckline. She set aside her clean ANBU clothes on the dresser, next to her katana.

The blonde pulled her semi-dry hair up into a messy bun and left the room, shutting the door behind her and wandering down the hallways barefoot to the kitchen for dinner.

She arrived at the same time as Chouko; Karasu was already there, setting the table for his mother. He looked up when she entered, and smiled, then nodded at the stack of napkins that still needed distributing amongst the place settings.

Mina rolled her eyes at him and took the napkins, following him around the table in his circular pattern to put the pieces of cloth at each seat.

Sakumo and Mikoto came in a minute later and talked to Chouko who was leaning against the kitchen island, pouring drinks into cups. Mikoto and Sakumo then took the cups to the table.

The Kazekage showed up right as Matsuri was putting the finishing touches on the food, he looked a bit drawn. Mina went over to him after he greeted his wife and gave him a hug.

"From dad." She explained, smiling at the red headed Kage.

Gaara took this in stride, smiled a bit and nodded, "Tell him thank you, and that he still owes me a drink for our last card game."

Mina's own smile widened, "I'll let him know, but you know he's gonna say that he won…"

Gaara chuckled, "but, _I_ won."

"You both say you won, Lord Kazekage." Mina replied innocently.

Matsuri laughed, "She's got your number Gaara, I think you and Naruto are just going to have to have a rematch."

Gaara rolled his eyes amicably and took his heavy looking gourd off his back, then placed it in the corner of the kitchen.

The group made their way over to the table, and took their respective seats, Chouko and Matsuri bringing large plates of steaming food over to set in the middle.

They all sat at the cramped table, and waited for a few moments. After about a minute, a tall man, dressed in black, with a puppet on his back burst through the back door.

The party ignored the obnoxious entrance, as it was a daily occurrence in the Sabaku household, and the Konoha-nin had witnessed it on several occasions, and waited tor Kankuro to settle himself in his seat next to his daughter.

When he did, Matsuri began to chatter about some academy students she had run into earlier that day, and conversation picked up in a few seconds.

When dinner was through, Kankuro stayed behind to chat with Gaara and Matsuri while helping them with washing dishes.

The younger crowd, however; parted ways to relax, and ignore politics in general. Sakumo went to work on his latest puzzle, and Mikoto sat by him in the living room sharpening her katana. Chouko was sitting in an armchair drawing.

Karasu and Mina who had followed everyone into the room stood in the door way for a few moments, looking out on the rather boring scene.

Mina had just resolved herself to going back to her room and going to sleep early when Karasu tugged on her sleeve. She looked up at him and was practically dragged away by him, outside.

She tugged her arm free in a rather gentle manner for one that was slightly peeved being treated like a misbehaving academy student. He glanced down when she did, and saw her irritated expression.

"Sorry, I just didn't want you to escape before I could show you something." He told her, seeing the expression replaced by one of curiosity, he felt a little safer from her irritation.

"Like what?" Mina asked.

"Just come on." Karasu replied, walking, not off the property but parallel to the wall. He then began to walk up the wall.

Mina sighed, resigned to see whatever it was the crazy red head wanted her to see. It'll only be a few minutes, she rationalized.

When they reached the roof, Karasu sat down and waited patiently for her to sit down next to him. She did, noticing that Karasu and she were facing away from the lights of the city, and out over the desert, as the wall was lower in elevation than they were and the Kazekage's house was almost unreasonably tall.

"If I'm right, "Karasu started, "and I read the chart correctly, today is August twelfth, and there should be…" he trailed off and squinted at the sky and then suddenly shot his arm out, startling Mina.

Well, as much as an ANBU captain could be startled. His dark sleeve covered arm was about a centimeter from her nose, and she went cross eyed in annoyance.

"Look! There!" he was pointing.

Mina's eyes followed his finger's trajectory to a bright spot of light shooting across the sky; soon, there was another, and another. A meteor shower.

The sky was perfectly clear and the desert provided the perfect darkness needed to really observe such a celestial event.

"I thought you of all people would appreciate it…." Karasu told her, looking down at her tanned, smiling face briefly before looking back up to the show in the heavens.

"It _is_ awesome." Mina agreed softly, losing her annoyance with her boisterous friend and making Karasu strain a little to hear her reply.

Karasu smiled and allowed the conversation to lapse into silence. He lay back, and put his arms behind his head, about half a minute later, he heard Mina do the same thing.

She scooted down the side of the roof so that their faces were level. She looked over at him, finding that he was already staring at her.

He quirked an eyebrow, and the face he made, made her laugh. She turned back to the shower and pulled one arm out from under her gold hair and pointed at something.

Karasu followed her finger's trajectory and saw that she was pointing to a cluster of stars.

"I used to know what it was called…" Mina said quietly, "Kaito knew all the names by heart, and he'd pull us all out to the back yard so he could ramble about some astronomical finding or mythology…." She trailed off, choking up a little.

Karasu turned his gaze back to the blonde woman next to him; she sat back up and clutched her knees to her chest, then rested her chin on top of her knees as she looked, not up, but out at the sand stretching out to meet the horizon.

Karasu sat up and scooted closer to her, noticing that she had put a good two feet of distance between them as he did. He put an arm around her and pulled her into his chest.

Mina looked up at him with surprise, and Karasu could see the tell-tale tear tracks running down her face, making her already cerulean eyes take on a horribly distressed, and even _bluer_, glow.

"_Hoki_ _boshi_." He said after a moment.

"What?" she asked looking confused, wiping her tears away with the back of a petite hand.

"Its name, means dabs of paint on the sky." Karasu offered, pushing her hand away from her face, and using the bottom of his clean, long shirt sleeve to wipe the salty water away.

When he finished that, he pushed a few of her stray blonde locks out of her face and pushed them behind her ears.

She let out a shuddery breath in an attempt to regain her composure but lost it and began crying anew.

"I'm sorry." She told him shakily.

"Don't apologize, Mina. You don't ever have to apologize to me, you should know that." Karasu murmured, putting his chin on top of her head, and tracing circles on her shoulder blades.

He had known that her brother's death must weigh heavily on her, especially because she was the oldest and quite possibly the next Hokage and people around her expected her to be a pillar of strength, always.

It was why he had stepped in during the confrontation with Yuudai. Sure, the sound bastard had also tried to assassinate _him_, but he was far more concerned about Mina's mental state. Yuudai was the sick fuck that had killed Kaito.

He knew she could have handled the fucker all by herself, and done a better job than he could do on his best day. But he was a worrier when it came to her.

Karasu knew different about her than most people did, he knew that she was a sensitive woman that bottled things to the point that she didn't know which ways were up or down anymore.

As long as she wanted him around, hell, even if she _didn't_ want him around, he would make sure to be there to catch her. Because, if he didn't who would? Who knew her like he did, knew when she was about to fall apart?

Not even her family knew her like that.

If they did, they wouldn't put so much damn pressure on her. Sure, she's a prodigy, but _the hell?_

That was why she was his best friend, he got her, and she understood him.

Kami knows he loves her, wants her to be more than his best friend. But if best friend was all he ever got, he could be content with that, and he'd keep his silence on the matter.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, Mina refused to meet his gaze. Normally this would not bother the Sabaku, but damn it when she did it, it bothered him.

Was she embarrassed? He wondered to himself, eating another bite of his leftover pork dumplings.

Hatake, Uchiha and his cousin had not bothered to wake up at eight this morning like he and Mina had, instead, they left the pair to wallow in their own awkwardness and confusion.

Mina poked at her instant ramen that sat cooling in the bowl before her, and glanced up at Karasu. He was zoning out into space somewhere over her head. Mina let out a breath and made to pick up her almost forgotten chopsticks when Karasu spoke.

"What's your deal?" he asked abruptly.

Mina halted in mid pick up, a bit stunned and losing one of the sticks to the floor. She couldn't quite find it in herself to look up, and then she heard him move. She hung her head in resignation, staring at her cooling ramen, her long blonde hair falling into her face.

Then there were fingers under her chin, forcing her to look up, gentle, but adamant.

When she did she found that he had not left, but rather come over to her side of the table. He leaned down and rested his forehead against hers.

She swallowed with great difficulty, though she was not at all sure why it was so unnerving having him in her space. It was nothing new; they had been the best of friends since their academy days when he did an exchange year at the Konoha academy.

"I shouldn't've cried all over you last night, it was obnoxious of me." Mina whispered, almost afraid that if she spoke any louder he would suddenly disappear into thin air.

He shook his head with a small smile, his forehead rubbing against hers. "It's fine. Leave it; I don't want you to be an awkward blob around me for the rest of the day, Blondie."

Mina gave him a crooked smile and nodded haltingly. Satisfied, Karasu picked up his half empty plate and walked to the sink, dumping it there for washing later.

He came back over and stole her bowl of untouched ramen from her, moving swiftly across the kitchen to the microwave, where he reheated it. When he was sufficiently happy with the temperature, he returned it with a fresh set of chopsticks.

Mina smiled and thanked him, and finally began to eat her breakfast. Karasu sat with her until she was finished, and patience was not his strongest suit but he did try admirably. His antsy behavior was hilarious.

Mina could not control her smile from spreading further, for the first time in several months, she was actually happy.

* * *

Hoki Boshi- also known as "Subaru" in Japanese, and in English as the Peliades Cluster. It's located in the constellation Taurus.


End file.
